250126 – Worship Bulletin

Prelude

Welcome and Announcements

The Voluntary for Silent Prayer

*Call to Worship: I Peter 1:3,8

Minister: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

People: According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead….

Minister: Though you have not seen him, you love him.

People: Though you do not now see him, you believe in him

Unison: and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory!

*Hymn of Adoration: “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder” (No. 172, Tune: “Irby”)

1 Let us love and sing and wonder,
let us praise the Savior's name!
He has hushed the law's loud thunder,
he has quenched Mount Sinai's flame;
he has washed us with his blood,
he has brought us nigh to God.

2 Let us love the Lord who bought us,
pitied us when enemies,
called us by his grace, and taught us,
gave us ears and gave us eyes:
he has washed us with his blood,
he presents our souls to God.

3 Let us sing, though fierce temptation
threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong salvation,
holds in view the conqu'ror's crown;
he who washed us with his blood,
soon will bring us home to God.

4 Let us wonder; grace and justice
join, and point to mercy's store;
when through grace in Christ our trust is,
justice smiles, and asks no more:
he who washed us with his blood,
has secured our way to God.

5 Let us praise, and join the chorus
of the saints enthroned on high;
here they trusted him before us,
now their praises fill the sky:
"You have washed us with your blood;
You are worthy, Lamb of God!"

*Prayer of Adoration and Congregational Prayer

Unison: Almighty God, your main plan, and the end of your will, is to make Christ glorious and beloved on earth and in heaven where he is now ascended. One day all the elect will behold his glory, and love and serve him forever. In this world you have given me a beginning; one day it will be perfected in the new earth. Help me, now, to see and know Christ. May I ever bless him in my heart, mouth, and life until that day when I will know, even as I am fully known. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Adapted from “Christ Alone” in The Valley of Vision

*Confession of Faith: Westminster Larger Catechism 42

Minister: Why was our mediator called Christ?

People: Our mediator was called Christ, because he was anointed with the Holy Ghost above measure; and so set apart, and fully furnished with all authority and ability, to execute the offices of prophet, priest, and king of his church, in the estate both of his humiliation and exaltation.

Unison: Thanks be to God!

*Gloria (Tune: “Lauda Anima”)

Glory be to Him who loved us,
Washed us from each sinful stain;
Glory be to Him who made us
Priests and kings with Him to reign;
Glory, worship, laud and blessing
To the Lamb who once was slain.

Psalter Reading: Psalm 139

Minister: O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.

People: You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

Minister: You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

People: Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

Minister: You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

People: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Minister: Where can I go from your Spirit?

People: Where can I flee from your presence?

Minister: If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

People: if I make my bed in the depths , you are there.

Minister: If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

People: even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Minister: If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

People: even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Minister: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

People: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Minister: your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

People: My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

Minister: When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

People: All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Minister: How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

People: How vast is the sum of them!

Minister: Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.

People: When I awake, I am still with you.

Minister: If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

People: They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

Minister: Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you?

People: I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

Minister: Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

People: See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Hymn of Praise: “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” (No. 535)

1 O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free;
rolling as a mighty ocean
in its fullness over me.
Underneath me, all around me,
is the current of thy love;
leading onward, leading homeward,
to thy glorious rest above.

2 O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Spread his praise from shore to shore;
how he loveth, ever loveth,
changeth never, nevermore;
how he watches o'er his loved ones,
died to call them all his own;
how for them he intercedeth,
watcheth o'er them from the throne.

3 O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
Love of ev'ry love the best:
'tis an ocean vast of blessing,
'tis a haven sweet of rest.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus!
'tis a heav'n of heav'ns to me;
and it lifts me up to glory,
for it lifts me up to thee.

Congregational Prayers

Unison: God of Majesty: When we look at the heavens, the moon and stars that you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? But you, O God of majesty, are good. You are gracious, merciful, and faithful. You uphold those who are falling and raise up all who are bowed down. You bring forth justice for the oppressed. You give food to the hungry. You watch over the sojourner and care for the widow and the fatherless. You open your hand, and you satisfy the desire of every living thing. For you are righteous in all your ways and kind in all your works. You are near to all who call on you in truth, and you hear the cries of those who fear your name. For this we humbly give you thanks. Amen.

A Season of Prayer for the President, Congress and Supreme Court

A Season of Prayer for the Sanctity of Human Life

For the Unborn
For the Aged
For the Infirm
For those in nations plagued by war

A Season of Prayer for Care Net

Pastoral Prayer

Word of Encouragement

Minister: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)

People: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

*Hymn of Preparation: “In Christ Alone” (SH No. 9)

1 In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

2 In Christ alone! – who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

3 There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

4 No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand:
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

CCLI 3036374a

Worship of God through Tithes and Offerings

*Doxology (Tune: “Old Hundredth”)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Amen.

*Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication

Reading of The Holy Scriptures: Matthew 16:13-20

Minister: This is the Word of God.

Unison: Thanks be to God for his Word!

The Prayer for Illumination

Sermon: “You Are the Christ” (Rev. Seth Wallace)

*Hymn of Praise: “The Church’s One Foundation” (No. 347)

1 The church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the Word:
from heav'n he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

2 Elect from ev'ry nation,
yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with ev'ry grace endued.

3 Though with a scornful wonder
men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed,
yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, "How long?"
And soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.

4 The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
to guide, sustain, and cherish,
is with her to the end;
though there be those that hate her,
and false sons in her pale,
against or foe or traitor
she ever shall prevail.

5 'Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace forevermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest.

6 Yet she on earth hath union
with God the Three in One,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.

*The Benediction

Postlude

*Denotes congregational standing, if able.

If you would like someone to pray with you, an Elder will be available at the front of the sanctuary following the service.